Work-support



L. A. CASGRAIN.

worm SUPPORT APPLICAHON HLED AUG.1I. 191?.

1,382,759, Patented June 28, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS A. GASGRAIN', 0F BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR BY KESN'E ASSIGN- IENTS, TO UNITE) SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW

JERSEY, A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

WORK -SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 28, 1921.

Application fled August 11, 1917. Serial No. 185,895.

To all'whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, LOUIS A. CASGRAIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Beverly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Work-Supports, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to work supports for use in the manufacture of boots and shoes.

The invention is illustrated as incorporated in a fastening inserting machine of the kind shown in the patent to Casgrain No. 1,053,479, granted February 18, 1913, which is desi ed to insert slugs in the heels of shoes. It is recognized, however, that the applicability of the invention is not limited to machines of this type.

In the operation of certain machines employed in the manufacture of ,boots and shoes, such as, for example, fastening in serting machines of certain types, the work is supported either directly upon the work support, having been first moved from the last used in forming the shoe, such method being referred to in the trade as operating off the last, or it is retained on the last while being operated upon and the last mounted on the work support, the latter method being commonly termed operating on the last. As illustrated the invention is embodied in a construction more especially desi ed for operating off the last.

The mec anisms of many of the machines employed in the manufacture of boots and shoes 0 erate on the work with considerable force. iior example, the fastening inserting mechanisms of machines for inserting fastenings, for instance, slugging machines, impart a severe blow to the fastening and work upon the insertion of each individual fastening. Devices are commonly provided in such machines for supporting the work during operation thereon bythe fastening inserting mechanisms. Such work supports have sometimes taken the form of a horn having a horn tip upon which the work rests. In such a case, to the end that the horn tip may be enabled to withstand the force exerted by the fastening inserting mechanism, it is imperative that it be firmly supported in the top of the horn or other support. Furthermore, in order that the work to be 0 eratcd upon may be presented wlth its sur ace flat u against the guard plate .of the fastening inserting machine so that the fastenings may be properly inserted therein, it is desirable that the horn tip be mounted for movement in such manner relatively to the body of the horn that the work supporting surface thereof may readily be inclined by manipulation of the work in any dlrection required by the exigencies of the work.

It is one object of the invention to provide an improved work supporting member or horn tip so mounted as to enable it to be readily moved to any position required to cause the surface of the work to lie flat up against the cooperating abutment or guard plate of the machine whereby proper operation of the fastening inserting mechanism or other operative part of the machine on the work is insured.

It is a further object of the invention so to mount the horn tip in the top of the horn that it will firmly support the work in the various positions which it may assume during operation of the fastening inserting mechanism thereon.

Various features of the invention consist in the organization shown as illustrating one embodiment of the invention.

Certain parts ofv the illustrated construction have been hereinbefore and will be hereinafter referred to for convenience of description as a horn tip and horn respectively. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not limited in its scope to the use of the feature of construction hereinafter termed the horn tip to engage the work directly, as the work may be supported indirectly thereon by means of a last. Furthermore said tip may be supported by means differing in construction within the scope of the appended claim from the horn herein illustrated.

Other objects and purposes of the invention will appear as the description proceeds, and the novel features of the invention are defined in the appended claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a broken view in side elevation of a fastening inserting machine with the present invention incorporated therein, and Fig. 2 is an elevation in cross section showing a horn with a horn tip constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Reference numeral 1 designates a. portion of the headof a fastening inserting machine of the type shown and described in said Let ters Patent, the usual guard plate or abutment being indicated at 2.

The work to be operated upon is mounted on a work support which in the, illustrated construction is formed as a straight born 3. The horn may be secured at its lower portion (not shown) to the frame of the fastening inserting machine in the usual manner. Mechanism is provided for detachably sup porting the horn tip 11 on the horn 3 comprising a disk at having a shank 5 received in an opening in the top of the horn 3 and grooved peripherally at 6 to receive the end of a set screw 7 which passes through a threaded opening in the wall of the horn. The disk 4 is formed with an upstanding peripheral flange 8 spaced inwardly from the periphery of said disk and externally threaded to be engaged by the internal threads on the drum 9 which is mounted thereon. The drum 9 has extended inwardly from its upper end a wall 10 which is formed with an upper concave surface and a lower convex surface. parallel thereto. The upper concave surface of said wall provides a seat for the horn tip 11, the upper substantially flat surface 12 of which constitutes the supporting surface for the work to be operated upon. The wall 10 is provided with a substantially circular central opening 13 adapted to receive the shank 14 of the horn tip. Said shank 14 is of considerably less diameter than the opening 13 whereby movement of the horn tip 11 on the seat formed by the wall 10 is permitted.

Means are provided for securing the horn tip 11 in its seat in such manner as to permit the horn tip to be readily inclined in any direction by manipulation of the work supported thereon. As shown, said means "comprises a disk 15 threaded on the lower end of shank 14. Said disk 15 is formed with a concave upper surface of a curvature corresponding to the convex lower surface ance to the movement of the horn tip may be increased or decreased.

The lower convex surface of the horn tip is curved about a center located substantially above the fiat supporting surface of said tip at a distance therefrom equal to several times the distance from the flat supporting surface to the convex surface of the tip for which reason any inclination or angular movement of the work supporting surface of the tip effects substantial bodily movement of the tip as a whole in a direction opposite to the direction of such angular movement. The above arrangement conduces to greater facility of movement of the horn tip in adapting itself to the position of the work and the requirements of work of various shapes and to greater rigid-- ity of support for said tip. The provision of a straight horn with a tip constructed and arranged as described enables the heel of a shoe to be supported on the tip for the performance of slugging or other operations thereon either by direct engagement of the inner surface of the, heel seat with the tip when operating off the last or by the locating of the flat top of the last on the tip when operating on the last. In either case, the varied shapes of the heels-and of th inner surfaces of the heel seats will be compensated for by the movement of the tip so that the tread surface of the heel may be presented flat against the guard plate and the work at the same time be firmly supported by engagement of the work or of the last on the upper surface "of the horn tip throughout the whole or substantially the Whole of its extent. Heels of'certain characters, for example, Louis wedge heels, present only a limited portion at the center of the inner surface of the heel seat whichis fiat enough to take a firm rest on the work support. The arrangement of the horn tip so as to be bodily movable when inclined is, accordingly of particular advantage in operating on such a heel since the rounded contour of the inner surface of the heel seat from the center outward causes the tipto be inclined in a direction to move it toward the relatively flat V ortion at the center of the heel seat, thus a ording better support for the work. Movement of the horn in away from the edge of the shoe is of a still further advantage in that a larger tip can be employed without danger of the edge of the tip causing injury to the upper. Manifestly, the larger the tip employed, the

more. stably can the work be supported on i the tip. v

It will be apparent that by the means above described the horn tip may be readily moved by manipulation of the work to any position required to bring the upper surface of the work substantially flat-up against the guard plate of the fastening inserting machine whereby proper operation of the fastening instrumentalities on the work will be insured. Itwill also be noted that in any position to which the horn tip may be moved the concave wall 10 will operate to sustain the same firmly against the action of the fastening inserting mechanisms. When the horn tip is positioned with the work engaging surface thereof horizontal, the axis of said tip '11, under ordinary conditions of operation, be in line with the path of movement of the fastening inserting mechanisms. In such case the wall 10 supports said ti at points surrounding the line in with t e force of the fastening inserting mechanisms is exerted so that the tip is firmly sustained. In case the tip is positioned with its work supporting surface inclined, or in case the fastening inserting mechanisms do not operate in line with the center of said work-supporting surface but in line with a point more closely adjacent the edge of the tip, the wall 10 nevertheless operates to support said tip either in the line which the force is exerted or at points surrounding it. The ti therefore operates to sustain the work fir y against the force of the fastening inserting mechanisms in whatever position it may be relatively to the path of movement of said mechanisms.

The connection betweenthe shank 6 and screw 7 is such as to prevent the accidental detachment of the horn tip from the horn while rmitting angular movement of the horn tip and its seat relativel to the horn.

Having fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A work support for fastener inserting machines, comprising a horn, a disk engaging and detachably connectedtothe end portion of said horn and provided with an upstanding circular flange a drumhaving a depending flange engaging the upstanding flange of said disk and also provided with an upper, concave-convex, spherical wall with a central aperture, ing tip having a fiat upper surface and a spherical lower surface for supporting contact with the upper surface of the concaveconvex spherical surface of said drum and being provided with a shank extending through the aperture in the drum and carrying means to engage the concave-convex wall of the drum to prevent separation of the parts. a

. In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

LOUIS A. CASGRAIN.

and a work engag- 

